This Montreal Startup is Ending Food Waste & Saving You Money

This Montreal Startup is Ending Food Waste & Saving You Money   Did you know that ⅓ of all the food produced around the world ends up going to waste?   Waste happens at many points along the way, from the farm all the way to our homes, and it’s one of the largest contributors to climate change. That impact is due to a number of factors. There’s the water, fertilizers, land and other resources used to produce food. Then there are all the fossil fuels used to harvest, transport and store food. Finally, there’s the food itself, which produces harmful methane gas when it ends up in landfill conditions.   That’s right… when food gets thrown in the garbage, it doesn’t just quickly decompose. A landfill isn’t the same environment as compost. Landfills are usually oxygen deprived, which slows down decomposition. Food can sometimes take decades to break down, and is giving off greenhouse gases for that entire time. What’s the solution? For one, we all need to get better at only buying what we need, and using up what we buy.   But there’s more to it, and that’s where companies like FoodHero come in.   What is FoodHero? FoodHero is an exciting new startup based in Montreal that’s partnering with local grocery stores to put a big dent in food waste.   Here’s the thing: grocery stores often have surplus food. Sometimes an item is over-ordered, doesn’t sell as quickly as anticipated, isn’t as popular as it was expected to be, or even things like bad weather can come into play, where people choose to stay in and order delivery rather than head to the stores.   The result is too much fresh, high quality food to sell in a reasonable time. Stores will often mark these items down for quick sale, but that relies on people actually coming into the store to see the sale.   FoodHero has created an app that lets stores publish these quick sale items to the FoodHero community (all the consumers who have downloaded the app). As a consumer, you can search all the deals in your area, focus on your preferred store, or even shop by dietary concern. You order the items you want directly within the app, then go to the store to pick up your items, which will already be packed up for you and ready to go.   It’s a really great initiative because once items pass their best before or sell by dates, grocery stores don’t have much choice but to throw them out. Most grocery stores do work really hard to limit in-store waste (after all, it is money in the garbage too), but not all waste is avoidable.   With apps like FoodHero, stores can recoup a bit of that lost profit by selling their surplus at reduced prices and, for consumers, there’s a lot of money to be saved on perfectly good grocery items. With recent reports suggesting Canadians could be spending nearly $500 more on groceries in 2020, now is as good a time as any to start looking at ways to cut your grocery bill.   Many IGA locations in Montreal and around Quebec are already offering FoodHero in their stores, as well as a few Metro locations that recently joined the effort. The FoodHero folks have also said that more grocery store partnerships will be launching in the very near future.   Where can you find and download FoodHero? FoodHero is available for iOS and Android. If you want to check it out, you can download the app at https://foodhero.com/ or search for FoodHero in the App Store or Play Store. Bon appetit!